Promotion

West of Memphis powerful trailer online

A trailer has arrived for the documentary West of Memphis a film from Amy Berg who previously delivered the documentary Deliver Us from Evil. West of Memphis looks into the arrest and imprisonment of three teenagers for the murder of three eight year old boys, and looks into the case revealing new evidence and a shocking cover-up that ran for some eighteen years.

The trailer looks a little ragged but it does show a powerful story, suggesting a cover-up that meant a real killer went free while three innocent boys were kept in jail.

The documentary has been selected for Sundance this year, and there are two rather surprising names as producers, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, not who you would normally associate with such a film.

Amy Berg is the director of the film that is as much about the aftermath of the trial as it is about the investigation and the trial itself. Here's the blurb:

West of Memphis is directed by Amy Berg (Deliver Us from Evil) and produced by first-time filmmakers Damien Echols (one of the convicted men) and Lorri Davis along with Lord of the Rings filmmakers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh. Starting with a searing examination of the police investigation into the 1993 murders of three eight-year-old boys - Christopher Byers, Steven Branch and Michael Moore in the small town of West Memphis, Arkansas, the film goes on to reveal hitherto unknown evidence surrounding the arrest and conviction of the other three victims of this shocking crime - Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr.; all three of whom were teenagers at the time of their arrests and all three of whom spent 18 years and 17 days in prison for crimes they did not commit.

The trailer for West of Memphis does look a little rough around the edges, but I have to say it seems powerful stuff indeed. See what you think as it comes through First Showing.